3.7 Chapter Summary
- The law, in the form of both statutes and case law (court decisions), has been critical in curbing discrimination based on disability and enabling disabled people to access opportunities that are equivalent to those available to nondisabled people. Since the 1960s, laws have ensured progressively more access to community opportunities for people with disabilities, ranging from education to housing to jobs and more.
- Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was the first law that recognized the civil rights of people with disabilities. This law, and the laws that followed, were a product of the disability rights movement that began in the 1970s and continues into the present.
- The ADA, passed in 1990, created broader access for people with disabilities as it applied to many areas of life. The ADA has been amended to clarify its application to people with mental disorders, or psychiatric disabilities, whether or not a particular person’s condition is medicated or otherwise managed at a given moment.
- The ADA applies in the criminal justice system, which is composed of government entities specifically regulated by Title II of the ADA. The ADA requires that the criminal justice system accommodate the reasonable needs of people with disabilities in the system.
- The legal rights of people with disabilities in the criminal justice system may be enforced by the federal government as well as individuals. Government investigations and lawsuits are intended to force change in state and local government agencies. Individual lawsuits can also vindicate rights. One of the most important private lawsuits impacting people with disabilities, inside and outside of the criminal justice system, was Olmstead v. L.C. The Olmstead case established the rule that people with disabilities cannot be unnecessarily segregated from other members of their community due to their disabilities.
Key Term Definitions
- Ableism: Discrimination against, exclusion of, or devaluation of people with disabilities.
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): A civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people on the basis of disability.
- Civil rights: Personal rights guaranteed and protected by the Constitution and laws. Civil rights include the right to vote and the right to access public establishments, among many others, where different treatment or discrimination is prohibited.
- Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA): A federal law that allows the federal government to protect the civil rights of people who are in a facility such as a jail, prison, juvenile hall, or state hospital.
- Deliberate indifference: A legal standard of proof required in some civil rights cases involving the criminal justice system, meaning that an official was aware of a substantial risk of harm but chose not to take action to avoid that harm.
- Discrimination: Different or unfair treatment of a person based on their status, e.g., disability.
- Failure to accommodate: A legal claim based on discrimination that alleges a failure to provide a disabled person with reasonable accommodations to place them on equal footing with nondisabled people.
- Failure to train: A legal claim intended to hold an agency or supervisors liable for their employees’ conduct by asserting that lack of training caused the employee to do the harmful act.
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): A law that established “special education” services for children who experience disabilities that impact their ability to learn and function in school. The IDEA requires that all students be provided with an appropriate and inclusive education.
- Medical model of disability: An understanding of disability that attributes associated problems to the person’s impairment. This model contrasts with the social model of disability, which recognizes that the environment creates barriers—not the disability
- Reasonable accommodation: An adjustment or modification that removes a barrier for a disabled person but does not place an excessive burden on the person providing the accommodation.
- Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act: A federal law prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in certain federal government contexts.
- Social model of disability: An understanding of disability as an aspect of a person’s identity rather than as a source of problems, recognizing that environments present barriers for people who experience disability.
- U.S. Department of Justice: The federal agency that enforces the laws of the United States.
- Wrongful arrest: A legal claim asserting that an arrest of a person is unlawful and unreasonable. In the disability context, wrongful arrest may involve an arrest based on disability-related conduct that is treated as criminal conduct.
Discussion Questions
- Identify the different branches of government that are involved in protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities. How does activism play a role in our legal system?
- What is ableism, and how does it impact people with mental disorders? What examples of ableism have you seen in your community, your school or workplace, or the media?
- The Olmstead case described in the text was significant in clarifying the rights of people with mental disorders to be free of overly restrictive living environments. How might the principles of the Olmstead case apply to people with mental disorders in the criminal justice world?
- Is it important that people with mental disorders are considered part of the larger disability community? How might this perspective impact outcomes for this group?
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Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Summary
“Chapter Summary” by Anne Nichol is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
